Ardis LaVonne Christensen, 97, of Beresford, SD, passed away Sunday, April 15, 2018 at Bethesda Nursing Home in Beresford. Funeral Service will be 10:00 am, Monday, April 23, 2018 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Beresford. A visitation will be Sunday, April 22, 2018 from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm with family present; a prayer service will begin at  4:30 pm at the church. Interment will be immediately following the service at Emmanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Waterbury Funeral Service of Sioux City.

Memorials may be directed to the Watchdog Education Foundation - Shanna Rae Christensen Memorial Scholarship.

Ardis was born on January 30, 1921 in Turner County, South Dakota, daughter of Alfred A. and Laura (Peterson) Johnson.  She attended Joy School Elementary in rural Lincoln County where she rode her horse to school every day.  She graduated from Centerville High School in 1943.  After high school, she went to work at K & K in Beresford and boarded in a rooming house.  She quit work after she and Gordon Ray Christensen were married on March 8, 1944 in Beresford.  To this union, two children were born, Janet and David.  The couple farmed south of Beresford until 1956 when they moved to Ardis' family farm west of town.  Ardis went back to work in the late 60's at Tolly's Café in Beresford as a waitress until 1980.  In addition to her waitressing, Ardis raised chickens on the farm and sold eggs.  She and Gordon raised livestock and grain on the farm until they retired in 1984 and moved into town.

Ardis was a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church for over 70 years. She taught 4-year-old Sunday School Class for 12 years. She was a 4-H Leader and active in the Joy School Mom's Group.  She was active in Bible Study Circles, WELCA and Quilting Circle.  She loved quilting for missions.  In addition to time at the church, she spent many hours at home sewing on the mission quilts.  She and Gordon loved to bowl, where she bowled in women’s and couples leagues. Many Saturday nights were spent with good friends and neighbors, Glenn and Alma Henderson, bowling in Sioux Falls.

Ardis was always busy.  She loved sewing, crocheting, canning, embroidery and quilting.  She combined her love of embroidery and quilting by finishing three quilts of state birds, flowers, and wildflowers.  She then quilted those three by hand.  She spent over 2 years working on each one of those quilts.  She made many baby quilts, which she embroidered, and hand quilted and loved to give as gifts. She loved making the Norwegian heritage foods of lutefisk, lefsa, krumkaka, rosesettes and kringla.  In her later years, when it became more difficult to do the hand sewing, she loved to read.  She would read 3-5 books a week, until the last month of her life.  If you stopped for a visit, you would get a book report on the books she had just finished.

Those left to cherish her memory are daughter, Jan and husband, Kelvin McMillan of Hawarden, IA; son, David and wife, Sue Christensen of Beresford, SD; grandchildren, Phil and wife, Lori McMillan of Woodbury, MN, Randy and wife, Laura McMillan of Modesto, CA, Julie and husband, Mike Lamoureux of Sioux City, IA, and Jessica Christensen of Marietta, GA; great-grandchildren, Darian McMillan and significant other, Ivan David of Sacramento, CA, Ayden & Isabel McMillan of Modesto, CA, and Grant and Jackson McMillan of Woodbury, MN.

Ardis was preceded in death by her husband, Gordon; parents; granddaughter, Shanna Rae Christensen; brother, Larry and his wife, Isy Johnson; and cousin/son/brother, Steve "Bill" Stevenson; brother in law, Ralph and wife, Lucille Christensen; and sister in law, Viola and husband, Albert Bachman.